14th Annual Heal the beach race in Ventura, ca

Sorry for late notice, but, this is a rather loosely organized race event.
Saturday October 9th. (yeah this weekend). Check in starts at noon with 7 mile race to start at 1:30 - 2:00. Faria beach, aka; Mondos, to Ventura pier. Fund raiser for Ventura high school aquatics program.
Usual shirt, burrito and the ever coveted painted rock (I assume) to the winners. Conditions are actually looking pretty god with 15 knot plus wind with waist high wind swell optimistically forecasted.
I am hoping to paddle my recently acquired Swordfish S ( thanks you MCimes). Not been paddling much these days. Pretty cool this race has survived long enough to have two generations paddling. I will be there with my son paddling traditional (prone) paddle board.

FYI, I don't think they really want surfskis... Did it a couple years ago, arrived way before anyone else, got no mention, no rock, like I didn't exist. Not going back, that's for sure... Have a good time, though!

So bitter thorsten! . The first year there were only 4 skis but last year we had 3 skis and 14 OCs. Oc guys from Manu wia took top 2 spots. Everyone was cool last year

Wind from the NW would be good. Swell is always coming over your shoulder it seems.

I'll be there. Thanks for the reminder kirk. You taking your boat to the start?

Hey Marcus, Still haven't got the new engine in my boat yet. Actually planning on hauling it out this month. Been nursing a bad knee (among other things). My plan is to be at the beach with my son and my Swordy. He just strained his shoulder though. We will see. I think I'm on board with the help of some wind and swell   . See you there.

And Thorsten, yeah like I said it is a very loosely organized race managed by high school kids that don't paddle. It was originally created as a prone paddleboard race by my very good friends son when he was on the water polo team. The teacher, Woody, has kept the race going and is an accomplished prone paddle board racer.   It's a good cause and a fun way to help raise a little money for those high school kids swim and water polo teams. My kids are both alumni from that high school's aquatic program. It takes at lot of time, commitment and money for the program's success. Hope to see you there.

I guess I should mention that every one involved in organizing the event and including the safety boats (and fuel) are all volunteers.

MAYBE!? Thorsten is just afraid that you are going to beat him on your new ski this year Marcus????   

Lol. I have only been paddling 1x a week lately so my conditioning is not the greatest right now. But the Vega really is next level surfing. The boat is so nimble its just a game. Instead of whack-a-mole its find-the-hole
The group I went to The Gorge with all agree they gained 20-30 spots when they went to Vega's (6 out of 8 were in a Vega or Flex). But the benefit is greatest downwind. Hopefully we get some wind to supplement the 45* swell we usually get from due west.

Fath2o wrote:

MAYBE!? Thorsten is just afraid that you are going to beat him on your new ski this year Marcus????   

LOL, I also recently upgraded, but not to a Vega or Flex... I'm actually having my eye more on friday, which is forecast to be the best wind. For saturday I have a Goleta-SB DW planned with a friend, should have more wind and better alignment than at the race venue, plus it's twice as long so twice the fun . I count on you guys to beat the OC-1's If you're ever up here LMK and we can have some fun on the water!

Well, wouldn't you know it. Just found out the race has been moved to Sunday the 10th.  
Looks like I will be spending a lot more time at the pumpkin patch Saturday morning with the family.
Unfortunately best conditions are on Friday then diminishing through the weekend  
Oh well.
 

Fath2o wrote:

Well, wouldn't you know it. Just found out the race has been moved to Sunday the 10th.  

 

"Organization".... Where do I find the race announcement and updates?

Yeah, sorry Thorsten. It may well be just a local thing through social media. I just heard about the race last week through a group text asking my shirt size. My son said he heard a rumor race date changed when talking to wife. I confirmed race date change today. Go figure. I think Covid is really mucking up the works. Have no idea who all will show up, but, there was a great turn out last year after I was under impression race might not happen.

Race is happening today, Checkin starts at noon race start 1330. $30.00 at beach cash or check. Pier lot parking $10.00

This ended up being a fun race as usual, even in spite of the flat conditions.

I had a fun race against 2 OC1s trading spots at the front and battling within a few boat lengths of each other almost the whole race. The ocean was dead flat with no wind and swell coming from every direction except behind us for most of the race.
 
I'm quite happy, i finished first overall at 53:16 on a 6.0 mile course which is 6.75mph average pace. I was in 2nd or 3rd place most of the race until I got a good break at a kelp bed and moved to 2nd around the middle of the race, then was trailing the leader by 2 to 10 boat lengths until the last mile.

In the last mile or so some medium period shallow swell filled in behind me. I'd sprint each time I felt the tail pick up and gain 2-3 feet on the leader with each swell. At the same time he was about done and couldn't match my intervals. Considering I have been working on other projects and haven't been able to paddle in 2 weeks, in quite pleased mustering as much effort as I did to catch small runs on the swell.
In the end I ended up winning by about 15 seconds with 2 OCs 15-45 seconds behind.

The Hokaloa OC club had about 7 paddlers plus 1 or 2 SUP, 2 other surfskis, and 20ish prone paddle boards.

Good burritos and rock trophies at the beach!

Join us next year!

 

Congrats, that sounds like a good race.

Yeah, another fun successful race. Good job Marcus! You know you may have actually done a little better than you think. The race is ~ 6 Nautical miles or ~ 7 statute miles. So your actual speed was closer to 7.9 MPH or 12,71 KMPH. My son, a full time high school science teacher and water polo coach was able to pull off a time of 1:24 on a 12' prone paddleboard 5th out of 8  @ 5 mph. His complaint was from wearing a wetsuit and being overheated. He says he must have rolled off his board 5 times to cool off. Sure am proud of that boy.  Well, I turned 60 this year and seem to spend way to much time visiting Doctors for various physical ailments. I paddle around 3-4 times a month, I figure, almost exclusively riding waves in the surf zone. I was able to pull off a 6 out of 8th place in the combined oc-1, oc-2, surfski division with a time of 1 hr. at 7 mph or 11.27 kmph. Think I have them all pretty well beat in the age division though. Nice to see a lot of teen age kids competing this year.
Yep, burritos were good and they raffled off a few nice prizes as well.
Next day seas were 6 - 8 feet ( ~ 2 m) with 62 MPH (99 kmph) winds recorded in the harbor,
WHAT A DIFFERNCE A DAY MAKES!

Oh yeah, ended up with a total 31 competitors.